Beth’s Nightmare

Beth woke from a deep, dreamless sleep. Hearing something out of the ordinary, she held her breath and her eyes were wide with fear. Ping. Crash. Thump. Sounded like a thunderstorm. Hail, lightning and it sounded like a felled tree. It sounded like the storm would rage on for quite a while. All of a sudden a silence fell over the house. Taking a look at her alarm clock, she could see that the electricity had blown. “Wonderful. Now where did I put the flashlight?” she said while she put her watch on.

“Oh yeah. It’s in the kitchen.” She answered herself.

It was spooky dark and she could see nothing. Stretching her arms in front of her, she felt her way to the kitchen. The noises started once again and made her jump.

Storms had been difficult for her ever since she was eigh years old. A tornado went through the town she lived in leaving plenty of destruction in its path. One side of town was destroyed. Her home was spared, although that event affected her greatly.

Rummaging through the kitchen drawers finally brought results. “Well, what do you know. . . the flashlight works.” She said with relief. “While the batteries still work, I better close all the windows

The wind was blowing the curtains in front of her face, the storm windows seemed miles away. Feeling her way she finally found and closed all of the windows upstairs. Drenched from the rain blowing in the windows, she went to her bedroom to change nightgowns.

“Flup. Flup. Flup.”

Picking up the phone to notify the police of an intruder, she found the the phone lines were down. She was on her own to handle this.

“Flup. Flup. Flup.” The noise was coming from the basement.

Grabbing the baseball bat, she cautiously made her way down the stairs. The noise became louder with each step that she took. Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw that a window was open and the shade was flapping against it. With a sigh of relief, she knew she had found the culprit.

Once she had closed all basement windows, she decided to stay downstairs. After all, she had a refrigerator, a bathroom, and plenty of puzzles to keep her company. Opening a can of pop she selected a puzzle showing seagulls flying over the ocean.

Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was 11:30 p.m. “Time for a bathroom break, then I guess I’ll do some exercises.” She said aloud. “Well, I didn’t exercise as much as I planned on, but at least it passed some time.”

It was 12:45 a.m. The storm was as loud and sever as ever. Time to check out upstairs to make sure there isn’t a tree lying in the living room.

Walking through the kitchen she found everything was fine. Entering the dining room she saw that the window had been broken. “Great, there’s a call to the insurance company.”

Not wanting to step on any glass, she turned around and walked back through the kitchen. Continuing on, she went into the living room. Everything checked out alright her. Glancing into the bathroom she saw another window with a tree limb poking through. Checking out the two bedrooms she found no more damage. When the phone was working again, she would have to call the insurance company to report the damages found.

“I can’t do anything here so I’m going back to the basement and work on the puzzle.”

Passing the refrigerator she grabbed another can of pop. She started working on the puzzle to be interrupted by a mind-blowing crash coming from upstairs. The rumble, crash, and ripping sounds were terrifying.

She snapped and began to cry. Certain that no one would find her under whatever debris lay upstairs the deep-seated fear of death and destruction swept over her. Rocking back and forth, she wrapped her arms around her for some sense of comfort.

Hours passed and the sun rose. The storm has traveled on, thank goodness, and she had come through the night safely. Time to go upstairs, assess the damage, and start the clean-up.